Inspection & Testing

Every day PEC’s reputation for excellence is put to the test

PE Composites’ heritage as an engineering company means we place great emphasis on precision, traceability of materials and testing. We use an extensive range of measuring and test equipment which allows us to guarantee all work output conforms to the highest level of quality.

The manufacture of composite parts simultaneously involves the construction of the composite laminate, with its intended properties, and the component. This places great emphasis on the need for excellent quality assurance of production procedures and build documentation. This QA can be confirmed through validation methods such as materials qualification, mechanical testing of typical laminates, destructive and non-destructive testing of components, CMM to confirm geometry and pressure testing, as required.

Our antenna design projects, which usually involve operation on or behind composite materials, require us to check and verify that our solutions meet the specific performance characteristic required by our customers. To assist in this verification, we use a vector network analyser to confirm that required antenna performance is achieved.

PE Composites offer a range of testing and inspection services that are used for both external customers and on internal projects. Contact us to see how we can assist you with these services.

Inspection & Testing Services

Dimensional

Ensuring components are moulded or machined to the correct geometry is an essential quality requirement. PE Composites have a fully calibrated suite of measuring equipment including a FARO arm, Digital Profile Projector and a Mitutoyo Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) to enable this measurement verification to be made.

Faro Arm Service

PE Composites have a FARO Edge measurement with a measurement range of 2.7m and the ability to move the portable arm for various set ups enabling us to fully inspect components and structures of a very large size. We are also equipped with a FARO Laser Line Probe which allows us to take high speed non-contact measurements of components or assemblies with challenging geometry which may be difficult to measure using conventional methods. The portable nature of the FARO arms means we can offer an offsite service as required.

Hydrostatic Testing

Components that are designed to operate in a sub-sea environment can be exposed to substantial hydrostatic pressures. This can lead to various forms of structural failures and/or water ingress, damaging laminates or other enclosed components such as electronics. PE Composites have the facilities to pressure test these types of components up to 1200 Bar to provide you with the design and performance verification you need. Our range of hydrostatic test tanks allow us to test components and assemblies with diameters up to 1.2m and overall lengths of 1.7m.

We also have a saline test tank which can be used to assess the buoyancy and trim conditions of an assembly.

Vector Network Analyser

RF designers need to confirm that the performance predicted for an antenna system can be achieved in practice. PE Composites have a vector network analyser to enable both the amplitude and phase of RF and microwave devices to be mapped.